Author: by Arjun Raj Gaind
Publisher: Westland
Cost: Rs 595
When Arjun Gaind decided to work on his graphic novel, Empire of Blood, he began with a simple question — What would India be like today if the sun had never set on the British Empire? Along the way, it turned into something much more, a surreal satire of the class system in our country. The author decided to narrate a “straight forward critique of oligarchy”, but changed his mind when writer Gautam Chopra suggested that he work around the story to give it more “resonance”. This turned out to be the foundation for the story. The author tells us about his book and the process behind it.
Did you already have the characters and complete story in mind before you began to write?
I generally try and sketch out my characters as completely as I can before I begin scripting, by trying to create a story bible that maps out the story arcs that each of them go through as the plot unfolds. In this case, Tom Lawrence, our protagonist, is based partially on Kipling’s Kim. Similarly, Tom’s father is a rather unsubtle pastiche of an aggressive professor who taught me while I was in England.
You have collaborated on the mythological graphic novel, Project Kalki series. Is mythology a theme you like to dabble with?
It is impossible to be Indian and not be fascinated by mythology. As a child, I loved Amar Chitra Katha, and I think for so many of us from the 80s, they left our entire generation with an abiding passion for the epics. However, what I find truly exciting is when mythology is reinvented in a secular, contemporary setting. The notion of taking myth and interpreting it to reflect the Zeitgeist, like what Neil Gaiman does so successfully, is both invigorating to me as a writer and compelling as a reader.
Do you have a favourite time of the day/place when/where you like to write?
Writing comic books is very different from writing prose. I like to follow the full-script method, where I map out the story page-by-page and panel by panel, including extensive descriptions of layout and dialogue. I am also a firm believer in taking and making notes. I like to carry a Moleskine notebook, in which I can transcribe bits of dialogue or notions for scenes that strike me at the oddest times. Writer’s block is scary stuff, and something I am more than familiar with. Writing is inherently a solitary process, but I think that it is important not to surrender to the loneliness that is inevitable during the gestation of a book.
